


Steve plays Bendy and the Ink Machine

by Chrisx1987



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, Rated for foul language, Steve Rogers and the 21st Century, Steve and Bucky are nerds, Video & Computer Games, bendy and the ink machine - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-24
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-03-09 00:46:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13470144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chrisx1987/pseuds/Chrisx1987
Summary: Off-screen, Steve found Bucky and brought him to the tower. It's been two years, since, and Bucky found the video of the Avengers playing Five Nights At Freddy's. He's also found a new game he thinks Steve would love.





	1. Shall we play a game?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Neutralfan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neutralfan/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Steve plays Five Nights at Freddie's](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4245360) by [Neutralfan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neutralfan/pseuds/Neutralfan). 



> So, I'm shoulder-deep in packing and cleaning, managing to not touch the keyboard for my other in-progress works, when this plot bunny attacked my face and force-fed this idea into my head, cuffing me to my laptop. *sighs* Good news, is, our current landlords extended the date so we have to leave April 1st instead of March 1st. *mops brow*
> 
> Thank you, Neutralfan, for giving me the go-ahead to write this!

Steve sighed heavily as he closed the door to his apartment. He’d returned from a PR meeting with Pepper (she basically had to remind him that he was perfectly welcome to diss POTUS, but to do so tactfully). Bucky was on the sofa with his tablet, earbuds in. 

Bucky had been wary of the Internet after finding out that white supremacists were using his image to support their cause, but, after two years of intensive therapy since Steve found him and brought him to the tower, he was easing into things by sticking to strictly entertainment-based Internet activities. It also helped that Pepper tracked down several of the bigots using Bucky’s image and threatened them with a very heavy lawsuit unless they ceased all usage, whether as himself or the Winter Soldier.

Just before Steve could carefully let Bucky know he was there without spooking him, Bucky burst into laughter at whatever he was watching, which led him to looking up and spotting Steve. Grinning, he removed an ear bud.

“How come you didn’t show me this?” he asked cheerfully.

“Show you what?” Steve asked, curious.

“Tony screaming at a computer game?” Bucky turned his tablet around, and Steve saw that he had found the video he and Darcy had made of the Avengers playing Five Nights At Freddy’s.

“Oh.” his cheeks reddened. “I, uh, didn’t think you’d be interested.”

“Are you kidding?” Bucky said, still grinning. “This is gold! Darcy had recommended Markiplier so I could learn about video games, and then your video came up in the related.”

Steve smiled sheepishly and sat on the other end of the couch. Bucky turned around and backed until he was leaning against Steve, who started scritching Bucky’s head. 

This was normal behavior for them before the war, but Steve had hesitated when he first brought Bucky to live with him, not sure if Bucky wanted to get back into that and not wanting to pressure him. Bucky had held his distance at first, too, but then his therapist had started giving Steve as many subtle hints as she could without breaking doctor-patient confidentiality, until Steve asked Bucky point-blank if it was something he wanted. Bucky had blushed and looked at the floor.

“I know it’s weird, now, especially with this thing.” he flexed his metal arm. “You don’t have to.”

Steve gave Bucky a hug, and then things just evolved from there. Now, whenever they were both home, they were almost always touching each other.

“You remember when we used to sneak in to the picture house to watch cartoons?” Bucky said as he relaxed into Steve’s fingers on his scalp.

“Yeah?” Steve grinned.

“Markiplier’s started this new game you might like.” Bucky told him. “Actually, let’s watch Jacksepticeye. I like his accent.”

“Okay.” Steve agreed, still petting Bucky’s hair. “Ask JARVIS to pull it up on the TV.”

“JARVIS?” Bucky called out.

“Yes, Sergeant Barnes?” the AI’s voice replied.

“Pull up Jacksepticeye’s playthrough of Bendy and the Ink Machine on the TV.”

“Very well, sir.”

The TV turned on, and the video loaded in short order.

_ “Top o’ the mornin’ to ye, laddies! My name is Jacksepticeye, and welcome to a game called Bendy and the Ink Machine. This has been around for a little while, now…” _

Before the video even ended, Steve was already in love with it. The style of the world, and how it was so much like the cartoons he and Bucky used to watch together, it was perfect.

“Be right back.” he told Bucky. “Wait before playing part two, JARVIS.”

***

Steve brought his laptop, wireless mouse, wireless keyboard, and, on a whim, his art tote. Chapter one of the game was free, and there was a reduced price if you bought two and three together, which he did.

When Bucky saw him coming with the laptop, he brought the coffee table closer to the sofa and they set everything up on top of it.

“So, from what I’ve seen of Jack, Mark, and MatPat’s playthroughs,” Bucky said as Steve started the game. “Is that you can’t die from playing chapter one. So take your time and look around to avoid backtracking looking for the objects.”

They immediately saw that there was quite a bit of updating from when Jack and Mark had done their videos, and Bucky noted that even though MatPat had been a bit late to the party, there were differences from his playthrough, as well; the lighting was better and there was more detail in the surroundings. One of the most obvious was that the archways weren’t as neat, looking more like someone had been nailing boards haphazardly in an effort to keep the place from collapsing. There were also a few cans of bacon soup, which Bucky explained to Steve appeared more prominently in later chapters.

As Steve was heading to the Ink Machine room for the first time, Bucky noticed something.

“Wait!” Bucky took Steve’s wrist.

“What!?” Steve jumped slightly. Even with the knowledge that there was no danger in the first chapter, the atmosphere was still tense.

“That door is ajar.” he pointed.

Steve saw that Bucky was right. Just before the Ink Machine room, the door on the immediate right was open just a tiny crack. Steve walked up to it and pressed E. It opened.

“Looks like a breakroom.” Steve said as he made his way down a small staircase to the room below, which contained a few tables and chairs, and even a punchclock he could interact with.

“I saw those on the chapter three videos.” Bucky said. “They’re for saving your progress. This must have been added after chapter three, because none of the videos I watched had them finding this room.”

There was a closet with several cans of bacon soup, as well as an area that looked as though it should lead elsewhere, but broken beams prevented them from going through.

Backtracking through the place and trying every door along the way, they found two other rooms and a small jumpscare of a Bendy cutout greeting them through a door they opened, barring access to the room itself.

While Steve kept exploring, Bucky found the wiki and told Steve how to access the secret room behind the Boris poster where they found a cutout of the game’s developer, theMeatly, which gave him The Creator achievement.

“This Boris looks different than the one in Jack's video.” Steve observed of the body on the upright table.

“They updated it after chapter two, I think.” Bucky explained.

“Does that mean we're going to meet Boris in chapter two?” Steve asked.

“Yes, and I’m not saying more than that.” Bucky insisted.

Bucky made sure Steve didn’t miss any of the achievements, though they were quite easy to get for this first chapter.

After waking Bendy and falling through the shaft in the collapsing floor, Steve was confused because in Jack’s video, the room was different and there was an axe; Steve couldn't find an axe where he fell.

“Oh, I saw this in MatPat’s playthrough.” Bucky said. “You have to go to a different room to find the axe and continue from there.”

When Steve got to the room with the pentagram, it didn't end suddenly like in Jack's video. Instead, there were flashing images of a wheelchair, the Ink Machine, and the evil Bendy standing by Henry's desk, before returning to the room and then a sound like metal striking something led to the character falling to the floor.

“Whoa, what?” Steve asked.

“End of chapter one, now chapter two starts.”

Steve exited the game, wanting to take a moment to process.

“Those images must be important.” Steve said. “Otherwise, it wouldn't have shown them. They weren’t there on Jack’s video.”

Bucky grinned.

“JARVIS?”

“Yes, sergeant?”

“Play the two Game Theory videos.”

Bucky got cuddled with Steve again as they watched. 

Steve found it funny how the old Fleischer cartoons were being newly discovered to people through the Bendy game, as he and Bucky had been watching them as well as Disney on the silver screen when they were small. He loved cartoons, which was why he had taken up drawing in the first place.

Steve reached down for his bag, carefully, so as not to disturb Bucky, and pulled out a small sketchbook and tin of pencils.

He drew Bendy as he appeared in the drawing on Henry's desk, with the cuter expression instead of the toothy grin seen throughout the game, but tacked on the body, as well, with his hand up to say hi. Just to complete the look, he added a pointed tail, too, and then inked in the drawing with a marker brush.

“That’s adorable.” Bucky said, smiling as he leaned on Steve’s shoulder.

“Yeah.” Steve smiled back. “I’ve got this idea in my head that Bendy on his own is just a friendly little character, but he’s combined with Joey’s fanaticism, which is why he’s chasing Henry.”

“Should we keep going?” Bucky asked.

“Yeah.” Steve put his sketchbook aside. “Do you wanna do chapter two?”

“On one condition.” Bucky handed Steve the tablet. “Here’s a list of the achievements you can get. If I get to an area where I can get one, let me know what to do.”

“I’ll try.” Steve grinned.

Most of the achievements were simple things, like listening to all the audio recordings, but others weren’t as obvious.

They were at the point where all Bucky had to do was go open Sammy’s sanctuary, but Steve told him to wait.

“You didn’t get all the bacon soup, yet.”

“Dammit.” Bucky muttered, and proceeded to go over every inch of the level.

“Oh, it’s up there!” Bucky said, struggling to get the pointer in the right position for a can on its side on the top shelf. “Got it! Canadian Bacon.” He headed to the punch clock to save his progress.

After Bucky turned the valve in Sammy’s sanctuary, he hesitated.

“Shit.”

“What?” Steve asked.

“After chapter two was released, they added stuff to chapter one, so that you have to work a little harder to get to the end.”

“Yeah?” Steve said slowly.

“After I get back to the main hall, Sammy’s gonna knock me out, and then I’m gonna end up in a place where I have to run from Bendy. If they changed the place where you get the axe, then that might be different, too.”

“Well, it’s a good thing you saved.” Steve grimaced. “Want me to take over?”

Bucky got a look of determination on his face.

“No. I got this.”

Sure enough, the chase scene was extended. Luckily, curtains of dripping ink and broken beams made it pretty obvious where to go, and when Bucky managed to escape, he and Steve let out huge sighs of relief.

“Oh, shit.” Steve said when he saw the rolling can of soup, having not seen any playthroughs of this scene.

“It’s okay.”  Bucky assured him, smirking. “He’s a good boy.”

Steve smiled when he saw Boris emerge from the hall.

Bucky quit the game and he and Steve just laid back on the couch.

“Chapter three is long and repetitive.” Bucky told him. “I think we should take a break.”

“I feel like I need one, and I was just  _ watching _ you play.” Steve said.

“Know what I feel like watching?” Bucky smiled.

“What?”

“How many of those old cartoons do you think they have on the Internet?”

“A good number of animations from your era are available on YouTube, sergeant.” JARVIS supplied. “Which search criteria which would you like me to use?”

Bucky and Steve grinned.

“I’ll make popcorn.” Bucky headed for the kitchen.

“Should we stick with Fleischer?” Steve called out. “Thematically-speaking, of course.”

“Yes!” Bucky replied from the kitchen.

“Alright, JARVIS. Fleischer cartoons, especially anything with Bimbo the dog and/or Betty Boop.”

“Compiling a playlist now, sir. If I may suggest, sir, theMeatly has also made three short cartoons for his video game character. Would you like to view them?”

“Ooh, yeah, start with those, actually.”

When Bucky came back with a large bowl of popcorn, Steve told JARVIS to start playing, and they spent the evening both full of nostalgia, but also sort of shocked they had been allowed to play some of those shorts back in the day. Betty Boop’s outfit, especially, Steve knew would have been heavily frowned upon by the good people of Father O’Malley’s parish. Not to mention that there almost always seemed to be something to happen to either have her in her underthings, or in some other manner show off her figure.

“Man, Betty Boop is a babe.” Bucky said at a certain point.

“I am not wearing bloomers for you.” Steve said firmly.

“Aw, please?” Bucky grinned. “What about the garter?”

Steve smirked back.

“Would you take it off with your teeth?”

The rest of that conversation finished in the bedroom.

***

The next morning over breakfast, Steve was looking over the funnies from the newspaper. He glanced towards the laptop, which he’d left on the coffee table.

“Hey, Buck?”

“Yeah?”

“What if we got the team to play Bendy?”

Bucky paused with his coffee cup pressed to his lips but without taking a sip, then put the mug back on the table.

“I have something to add to that.” Bucky said. “I checked out the official website. They sell life-size cutouts of Bendy.”

Steve couldn’t have stopped the grin that split his face even if he tried. This would be perfect payback to Tony for the animatronics.

“We need to get Pepper and Darcy.”

***

“Tony’s gonna kill the both of you.” Pepper said mildly, but was clearly loving the idea.

“Well, he already hates me.” Bucky said. “This is nothing in comparison.”

Pepper grimaced.

“I’ve tried telling him to talk to someone about that. It’s really not fair to you--”

Bucky raised a hand to stop her.

“I get it.” Bucky said. “I really do. It took me a long time before I stopped blaming myself. Tony’s gonna need time, too.”

“Do we do the same thing as last time?” Darcy asked, hoping to break up the awkward. “Don’t tell anyone, just see how they do?”

“For chapter one and two, yes, but Bucky mentioned that chapter three is longer?” Steve turned to Bucky.

“It’s about four times as long and very repetitive. It’s still doable, but this game isn’t quite as simple as the Freddy games. I think the best way to make it a challenge is make sure they know what achievements are available with little clues on how to get them. Whoever gets the most achievements wins.”

“Should we let them know they can’t die on the first chapter?” Steve asked.

“It would probably sucker them in more easily.” Bucky grinned.

“And don’t tell Tony. Yet.” Steve told Pepper. “Saving him for last.”

“So, how do you want to start this?” Darcy asked.

“Movie night.” Steve grinned. “Everyone keeps trying to get me caught up with modern cinema, I think it’s time we have them watch the stuff we had as kids.”

***

The camera was set. This would be where they used the least amount of footage; it was just an intro thing meant to set the mood for the video. Start the Avengers off with Betty Boop and Bimbo, then play the three Bendy cartoons at the end, Tombstone Picnic for last of all. It didn’t have any real resolution to it; Bendy running away from skeletons for about thirty seconds, and then a dark shadow approaches, but when he sees it, he smiles, and the short just ends.

Steve, Bucky, and Darcy had already come up with the text that would overlap with the short footage of the Avengers watching the cartoons. Something along the lines of, ‘Even superheroes can kick back and enjoy cartoons. Who doesn’t like a fun, silly time? After all, cartoon characters are fun, right?’ and then cut to footage of at least a couple of them reacting to the jumpscare from chapter one before throwing up the title: The Avengers Play Bendy And The Ink Machine.

When the cartoons were over (they had only selected about forty-five minutes’ worth), it was Tony who spoke up.

“Every offense meant, Rogers, those things were creepy.”

“Yes,” Wanda frowned. “You prefer a crazy old man who takes his grandson to different dimensions and they switch dimensions if ever they screw up badly enough; that’s not creepy at all.”

“You clearly don’t have the IQ required to appreciate it.” Tony countered.

Pepper tried to do damage control.

“Not again, Tony--”

“Wasn’t the song from the one where Betty ran away in Blues’ Brothers?” Clint changed the subject.

“Yep.” Bucky said; he’d seen Blues’ Brothers a few weeks ago.

“These images were hand-drawn, yes?” Thor asked.

“That’s right.” Steve asked, the artist in him happy that someone was paying attention to the hard work behind the animations.

“Amazing how they were able to capture the man’s movements with the strange spirit creature they drew.”

“It’s called rotoscoping.” Steve explained, and Bucky enjoyed watching Steve light up as he got to explain. “They film an actor, and then draw over each and every frame of movement. The film moves at twenty-four frames per second, and each one had to be drawn over.”

“Such patience and skill.” Thor marvelled.

“I’ve never heard of Bendy, before.” Natasha frowned. “Betty Boop, obviously, but not Bendy.”

“Ever heard of Flip the Frog?” Bucky said, hoping no one would get curious enough to actually Google Bendy and ruin the surprise.

“No.”

“MGM Studios, same era.” Bucky told her. “Obviously, not every character at the time got popular.”

Natasha accepted this.

***

While lying in bed, Steve and Bucky realised they were going to have to move fast if they wanted to avoid anyone doing any preemptive Internet searches.

“Who do you think would be more likely?” Bucky asked.

“The twins.” Steve said immediately. “Especially Wanda, she loves learning about old things. We should get them in together, they can take turns on chapters, and Wanda will probably keep Pietro from running off, so long as we assure them that there aren’t any puppets.”

“First thing tomorrow, then?”

“Game on.” Steve grinned.

They exchanged a kiss, and fell asleep.


	2. Twin-tackle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wow! Sorry for taking so long on this, especially as the chapters are relatively short. I'm trying to keep it to two people working on one part of the game per chapter, to avoid too much repetition. Here's chapter two!

Sure enough, first thing that morning, Steve and Bucky quietly asked the twins over to the computer room.

Pietro was immediately suspicious by the fact that the lights were out, though this made Wanda grin with excitement. Bucky and Steve thought to play nice and greet them in person.

“It’s a new game.” Steve explained as they guided the two to sit. “But there are no puppets.”

“Oh, I’m so relieved.” Pietro said sarcastically.

“Just ink monsters.” Bucky grinned.

“It’s that character from last night!” Wanda exclaimed, as Steve started the game.

“The characters are inspired from the old Fleischer cartoons:” Steve explained. “Bendy instead of Bimbo, Alice Angel instead of Betty Boop. There’s also Boris the Wolf, but he’s more like Goofy than any Fleischer creation. They were actually created for the game, not from our time.”

“Now, for chapter one, you can’t die.” Bucky emphasised. “We have a list of all the achievements you can get in each chapter, and clues on how to get them. One of you can go over the list while the other plays. Good luck!”

They left and closed the door behind them. Pietro grimaced while Wanda eagerly put on a set of headphones.

“Come on, Pietro.” she grinned, holding out the other headphones for him. “You can play the easy one.”

He swore in Sokovian as he put on the headphones and took the keyboard to his side of the desk.

“You’re doing well, Pietro.” Wanda encouraged him as he searched for hidden rooms for more bacon soup.

“I feel like I’m letting mother down.” Pietro joked. “Bacon isn’t kosher.”

Wanda laughed and they both jumped as one of the doors revealed a Bendy cutout.

“I think that’s everything.” Wanda said, going over the list. “Time to start the machine.”

Pietro had already gathered all the items and went to place them on the pedestals, and then made his way to the room with the ink flow button, startled when a Bendy cutout appeared from behind the corner, and swore again.

“That’s not good.” Pietro said as the room began to flood with ink.

“I imagine we’ll see more when we turn the machine on.” Wanda said.

Pietro returned to the room with the six items and pulled the lever.

“‘Go to the Ink Machine.’” Pietro read the instruction. “How about no?”

The twins frowned as they saw that the door to the Ink Machine room was now boarded up.

“Are you going to have to find another route--?” Wanda wondered.

“GAH!” Pietro and Wanda both cried out when Bendy appeared in the gap between boards, and Pietro started swearing in Sokovian.

« _ Exit! _ » Wanda yelled, also in Sokovian, because fuck English when you’re freaking out over an ink monster. « _ That way! _ » she pointed.

« _ I see it, I see it! _ » Pietro told her in a panic, running for the starting point. They both yelled again as the character fell through the hole in the floorboards.

« _ Where the fuck am I!? _ » Pietro said, trying to get his character through the ink that was hindering his progress.

« _ That valve is glowing. _ » Wanda pointed out, and Pietro went to it, not really feeling better when the ink drained.

« _ Wait, an audio tape and more soup. _ »

Pietro swore, but clicked on the tape playing the woes of Thomas Conner complaining about the leaking pipes.

Turning it and two others as they progressed down the hall drained the ink.

Pietro felt much better when he found the axe, though that was short-lived when they found the room with the pentagram and the coffins, only for his character to lose consciousness.

« _ What the fuck? _ »

Wanda saw the alert which indicated that they were going into chapter two.

“ _ You didn’t get the achievement for the bacon soup. _ ” Wanda frowned, looking at the list.

« _ I must have missed some. _ » Pietro shrugged.

« _ Can I play? _ » she asked. « _ It’s the next chapter. _ »

He handed her the keyboard without saying anything and she handed him the list of achievements.

“More bacon soup.” he sighed, switching back to English as he went down the list. “What even is Canadian bacon?” he frowned at the name of the achievement. “Canadian, American, it’s still bacon.”

“It’s pig junk.” Wanda said as she familiarised herself with the layout of the level.

“All pork is is junk.”

“No, it’s literally the junk. The loins.”

“Why do you know that?”

“I read Wikipedia.”

“Shit!” Pietro exclaimed while Wanda was taking down Searchers after turning on the power. “Oops.”

“What!?” Wanda hissed. “I’m busy, here.”

“When you’re done, go back to the pipe organ. You have to play it five times and then you get an achievement.”

“Johnny’s Broken Heart?” Wanda frowned after getting it. “Who’s Johnny?”

“No idea, but, it’s an achievement.”

“Okay, this is gonna be tedious,” Pietro warned. “Go from the projector, down to the sound stage, and back up again, like, ten times.”

Wanda complied; each time, the soundstage had an additional Bendy cutout.

“Strike Up The Band!” Wanda grinned. “Awesome.”

The siblings swore when the character was knocked out after Sammy’s office, with Wanda aggressively pressing the WASD keys.

As Sammy Lawrence loomed over the character in the ritual room, Wanda continued to try to shake free, swearing at him in Sokovian, until it was clear there was no way out.

As they listened to Sammy’s cries, belying his certain demise, the character was finally free and Wanda muttered curses under her breath as she took the axe and left.

There was another flurry of swearing and shouting when she had to run from Bendy, but, all in all, Wanda felt she’d done well.

At the heading for the list of achievements for chapter three, there was a warning to:

_ Make the Ink Machine _

_ Choose the Demon _

_ Don’t die _


End file.
